


Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

by katydidmischief (cassiejamie)



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Age Regression, Child Abuse, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-23
Updated: 2011-07-23
Packaged: 2017-10-21 16:51:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/227442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassiejamie/pseuds/katydidmischief
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No kid is that quiet... not without a reason.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

**one.**

They think it's cute and Sean wants to scream. He's the middle child of nine from a Roman Catholic Irish family, who'd been raised along side cousins and second-cousins; he knows what little kids are like and how they act, he knows how they play and they yell and they just don't care for their chores. Yes, as they'd gotten older, they'd all, eventually, learned to cook and clean because the younger ones couldn't and there's only so much his parents could do on their own, but... still...

(Charles has been turned into a four year old. _Four._ And no four year old should know how to fashion their own meals, should know to bathe themselves, should spend their days hidden in a corner of the library.)

He tries to explain it, but no one pays heed.

"He's always been quiet," Raven tells him, "I mean he's outgoing, but he's not boisterous."

"But he should be!"

"Hey, not everyone grew up in ridiculously huge families." Alex. Infuriating, contrary Alex who's been fostering Charles' reclusive nature by getting the boy any book he asks for. "There are some kids that aren't all rough and tumble."

Sean groans out of frustration, stomps away, and ends up, somehow, in the kitchen, head in the fridge as he hunts for something sugar-filled and unhealthy. (Charles is not going to be pleased when the effect wears off and he discovers just how much junk food they've been indulging in.)

He's settled on a piece of chocolate cake when a tiny hand tugs at his shirt and Sean looks down. A pair of blue eyes stare back, guarded; Charles whispers, "Can I have some milk? Please?"

Not for the first time, Sean wants to scream because it's a simple enough question and Charles sounds like he's not sure if he'll be struck over it. _notnormalnotrightcharleswhathappenedtoyou_ reverberates through Sean's mind and he clenches his teeth as he plucks a glass from the dish drainer, fills it from the jug, hands it to Charles.

"Here you go," Sean says, giving a small smile – a tight, forced smile that he wishes were more assuring but he's simply too angry right now – and watches as Charles relaxes. Watches Charles clasp the glass in both hands and chug the contents.

(When he finishes, Charles should be wiping it with the back of his hand and leaving the glass on the table, not dabbing at his lips with a napkin, not attempting to wash the glass himself.)

Later, when Sean's managed to convince Charles that it's okay for Sean to do the dishes and for Charles to go find something to do, when Sean's convinced Erik that he can train by himself for a little while, he heads out into the trees and gives in to the need to scream. He does nothing else, only screams, until his throat hurts and he's got his back pressed against a tree.

Later, when he's alone, Sean will cry for the evidence of what he's seen and the inability to change both the events already come to pass and the knowledge of his mentor he never wanted to have.

 **two.**

Several nights pass and several mornings come and the effect that has turned Charles young wears off after a week. He remembers nothing of his time as an again-child, not reading himself his own bedstories nor trying to clean the stain in the hallway nor trying to fix his own meals.

He remembers nothing of Sean's protective hovering then, though he certainly notices it now.

"Is everything all right?" He asks after dinner the first evening he's back to normal.

It's the two of them in the library, Charles studying the moves Erik's left him to ponder while Erik and Emma head off to gather a young man with the ability to form fire in his hand and Sean is pretending to read a book. (Pretending, clearly, because he's holding it upside down. Also, Charles is sure the thoughts Sean is unconsciously projecting are not within the pages of The Laws of Physics.)

Sean glances up over the edge of the book and then quickly back at the unread page. "Yeah."

"Really? Because I don't think that's true, Sean." Charles shifts away from the chessboard and leans forward, toward Sean; the coffee table puts a bit of distance between them, but not too much and Charles asks, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing."

"Sean..."

"They didn't listen to me!" Sean huffs, "No kid is that quiet... not without a reason."

Charles feels the blood draining from his cheeks – no one's told him yet how he'd acted over the course of the last week and a half, and he wishes someone had before this – and he grows quiet, though only out of contemplation rather than shame or upset.

In the end he tells Sean, "They didn't want to listen. It would have detracted from what they think of me and it's easier not to acknowledge what you did. Very brave of you to do that, Sean, and I'm very proud of you. It shows just how good a heart you have...

"But this isn't for you to know or worry about. It is my past, it's over," Charles adds, reaching across to pat Sean on the knee. (He's grateful that Sean isn't looking at him as Charles lifts his fingers to his temple.) "And it's my job to protect you now, not the other way around."

The next morning, Sean remembers the last week like he's watching a sunbleached, fuzzed-at-the-edges film, never connecting the little boy in his memories to Charles.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [this prompt](http://1stclass-kink.livejournal.com/6527.html?thread=11169663#t11169663) at [1stclass_kink](http://1stclass-kink.livejournal.com/).


End file.
